Tess and Edna Comparison
The ability of traumatic or hurtful experiences to shape the malleable human spirit is unlimited, the potential a powerful force that can be used for betterment of self or for the casting down into a abysmal chasm of emotional turmoil that forever mars one's personality. Tess Durbeyfield and Edna Pontellier, in Tess of the D'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy and The Awakening by Kate Chopin, embody this theme of growth by tribulation. Each is caught in a society rigid in its moral and social framework, unyielding to change. By the end of their respective novels, each had decided on their own identity, brushing aside their feelings of dependency to find a new self worth. Each has chosen her own path, Tess pushed into impulsive animalism and then into submissiveness, Edna into a action full of strength but encouraged by a fantastic illusion of reality. Tess's predicaments are dictated by chance, a clash of random events that bring her ultimately to her end. The first major change in Tess, as evidenced by the phase titles, is from a maiden to not a maiden. This physical change brings about a metal revolution also. Before she is naive, she refuses to believe in the evil of the world, she thinks that she will always be protect
Edna, on the other hand, finds herself trapped not by chance but by her own reason, her own mind. Slowly but surely, she is drawn into an affair with Robert, and it is here that her troubles start. Her affection guiding her, Edna suddenly sees the bars of a societal cage closing in on her. Frantic, she suddenly sees the truth: that women in her society came second to men; that if she wanted to live in this world she would always serve Man. Edna claims that if she were to choose between living happily in ignorance and distressed with her new revelation, she would pick the latter. With this mindset, however-an illusion at best since she was unique in having it-Edna is led into a course of civil disobedience. Her acts of defiance speak what her mouth dared not utter. Soon, however, she realizes that her impassioned daydream cannot last. Trapped in a checkmate, Robert on one side and Mr. Pontellier on another, and her children on the last, Edna sees no way to escape. Her final act, however, is not one of cowardice but of great self-sacrifice, misguided as it were, and she used her final stores of strength to do the noblest thing, saving her children and herself. Both Tess and Edna learned societal truths, although Tess's was first ignorant because of her innocence, while Edna was never ignorant-the truth she unearthed was not accepted, generally, and thus not truth at all in e
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Kate Chopin, Tess Edna, Edna Tess, , Robert Pontellier, tess edna,
Approximate Word count = 939
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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